


You Think He's Worthy?

by sambethe



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Episode 6x13, F/M, Gen, Missing Scene, Swan Believer, background Captain Swan, fluff and snark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 14:22:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10388724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sambethe/pseuds/sambethe
Summary: Emma finds a secret tucked up inside a chest and Henry stumbles in on her trying to decide what to do.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Because I have a lot of feelings. And Emma Swan is sometimes my spirit animal.

It’s shiny.

She laughs and though she’s still sitting cross-legged in the center of their bed, she starts bouncing on the back of her heels.

It’s really, really shiny.

Emma spins it so it catches the light from the ceiling fixture and throws tiny flecks of light on the walls around her. She angles it again and watches the light scatter and bounce as she does. She can feel a giggle slid up the back of her throat and quirk at the corner of her mouth but does her best to tamp it down. 

She knows should probably put it away, tuck it back up in the little black box it was sitting in and wait for Killian to bring it out and give it to her, but she doesn’t want to. The little girl who had stood in driveways and stared out windows and watched family after family pick everyone but her wants to slip this ring on her finger and never take it off. Emma, the woman bouncing like a toddler on a sugar rush, wants this tangible proof of everything – everyone – she now has on her hand. She wants to see Killian’s eyes light when he gives it to her, wants to hear whatever stupidly poetic – _stupidly perfect_ – words he’s planned to say.

_I wished not to be alone on my birthday._

The giggle finally escapes on that thought. That that one wish, made over a stupidly expensive cupcake, would bring about this. It’s almost too much.

She doesn’t realize she’s crying until a tear hits the skin on the side of her hand between her thumb and index finger. She stares at it a moment before she swipes at her face.

“Mom?”

Emma nearly drops the ring when she hears Henry’s voice. She scrambles to palm it and hopes her eyes aren’t rimmed red as she turns her head to look at where he’s standing in the doorway.

“Hey, kid,” she offers as casually as she can. She fails miserably, if the way Henry drops his bookbag on the floor but stays in the doorway staring at her is any indication.

“What’s going on?” He arches his brow as he asks and it reminds her so much of Killian that she can’t help the watery smile she gives him.

“Nothing. Aren’t you at Regina’s tonight?”

“Yeah, but she isn’t going to be home until dinner. I thought I’d see if you were up for a rematch on Mario Cart.”

“Don’t you have homework?”

Henry rolls his eyes and waves her off. “I can do it later.” Finally peeling himself from the door, he flops down next to her on the bed and nudges her shoulder with his. “What’s going on?”

Emma takes a deep breath. “Remember when I once asked you if you thought Walsh was worthy of joining our family?”

Henry pulls away and eyes her. “Yeah…”

She holds out her clenched fist and turns it so it is palm up. When she opens up her hand, the ring is sitting in the middle of her palm.

“Killian asked you to marry him?”

She shakes her head. “No. I, uh, may have found it in his sea chest.”

Henry smiles and rolls his eyes again. “Were you snooping?”

“Hey!” This time it is her who nudges his shoulder. “I was just putting something away.”

“Uh huh,” he mutters with a shake of his head. “You think a 300-year-old pirate would be better at hiding things.”

She turns to her son with a question on her lips but he continues before she can ask.

“Did you know he hid the sheers in a toolbox in the garage? And then left it out on the bench where anyone could find it.”

Emma laughs, her earlier giddiness returning. Once she catches her breath, she whispers mostly to herself, “Of course he did.”

When she doesn’t say anything else, Henry asks quietly, “So are you going to say yes this time?”

Her answer takes no thought. There is no hesitation as she once again imagines Killian’s face as he asks her to be his wife. “Yes.” She looks up at Henry as she says it and finds his face studiously blank. “Are you ok with that?”

The smile that breaks out on Henry’s face is one she will hold in her heart forever. It is so bright and brilliant that it almost rivals the ring still sitting in her open palm.

“Poor guy,” Henry answers, his smile still firmly in place.

She scrunches her face at him. “Poor guy? I said I would say yes.”

He shakes his head. “He’s going to be stuck with our pop tarts, and our talking through movies, not to mention your grumpiness in the morning for the rest of his life. So I stand by my assessment.”

Emma sticks her tongue out at him before turning her attention back to the ring.

“So, oh wise one, tell me this then, should I put the ring back or tell KillianI found it?”

Henry turns to her, tapping his finger to his chin and furrowing his brow. “I vote tell him.”

“Why?” she asks, slipping the ring into the pocket of her jeans, still not quite willing to part with it.

“Because while you may be great at telling when someone is lying to you, you are a terrible liar.”

“Hey! I was a perfectly fine bail bondswoman before –” 

Before she can finish that thought, Henry’s rolled off the bed and is out the door and running down the stairs. Though he must stop at the top of them, because she can hear him call out, “See you downstairs.”

Emma smiles and pats the pocket of her jeans one last time before getting up to follow. “You better be saving Yoshi for me,” she calls after him.


End file.
